Clothesline



March. 31. 1925.

w. J. CUMMINGS CLOTHESLINE Filed April 8, 1924 2 SheetE-Sheet 2 I Wa/fef Jam/272795 Patented Mar. 31, 1925.

UNITED STATES WALTER J. CUMMINGS, 0F STABBUCK, WASHING-TON.

CLOTHESLIN'E.

Application filed April 8,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1,.WALTER J. CUM- MINGs, a citizen of the United States, residing at Starbuck, in Columbia County, and State of Washington, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Clotheslines, ofwhich the following is a specification.

My present invention relates to improvements in clotheslines adapted especially for indoor use as in a drying room, but alsoapplicable for outdoor use for hanging out and drying clothes.

The primary object of the invention 1s the provision of an appliance that is comparatively inexpensive in cost ofproduction, which may be installed with convenience, and which may with facility be extended for use when desired. With equal facility the appliance may be compactly arranged when not in use to occupy a minimum of space in a room and be out of the way, but ready at all times for immediate extension and use.

With these objects in View the invention consists in certain novel combinations and arrangements of parts including a one-piece continuous rope or line having its ends anchored at a single point and provided with movable and adjustable carriers for holding the line in suspension, together with means for automatically taking up the slack of the line by tightening the rope.

In the accompanying drawings I have illustrated one complete example of the physical embodiment of my invention wherein the parts are combined and arranged in accordance with the best mode I have thus far devised for the practical application of the principles of my invention.

Figure 1 is a perspective view showing the clothesline extended for use as in a drying room or other space within a house.

Figure 2 is an enlarged detailyiew of one of the suspending pulleys and its carriage, showing in section also one of the tracks for the carriage, the pulley being shown in position for use, and in dotted lines in inoperative position.

Figure 3 is an enlarged detail View of the line tightening device.

Figure 4 is an edge view of the weighted hanger of the line tightening device.

Figure 5 is a perspective view of the 1924. Serial no. 704,937.

. in the drawings may be the side walls of any suitable room in which the clothes may be dried.

At a suitable height along the walls W and W, preferably near the ceiling of the 1 room I install permanent channel iron plates 1 and 2, disposed horizontally on the opposite walls and located in the same hori-' zontal plane. Each of these channel plates is fashioned with a longitudinal front groove 3 centrally thereof above and below which are formed cylindrical track ways 4.- an 5.

These channel plates are cut to suitable length depending upon the capacity of the clothesline to be used, and are secured to the faces of the walls as by screws 6, one end of each of the channel plates being left open for the introduction of line carriers or carriages as will be described.

A permanent anchoring bolt or screw 7 is also secured in one of the walls as W at a predetermined point, which bolt is provided with a suitable head 8 to which both ends of a single rope orline 9 are attached or tied.

The line is preferably arranged in zig zag fashion transversely of the room and suspended from linecarriages indicated as a whole by the numeral 10. These carriages are arranged in sets at opposite sidesof the room and are used in numbers according to the length of the rope or line, all of the carriages being of similar construction and operation.

In Figure 2 one of the carriages is shown in detail with a pair of spaced, horizontally disposed wheels 11 preferably having rounded treads and conforming to the interior of the cylindrical tracks 4 and 5 of the channel plates along which tracks the wheels may roll. The wheels are journaled on a vertically disposed axle 12 and the carriage is retained in upright position by the formation of the channel plate as indicated in Figure 2. A suspending hanger 13 is fixed in horizontal position to the axle 12 and projects laterally through the slot 3 in the channel plate. To this hanger is hinged a U-shaped pulleyryoke 14: by means of the pivot'or'hinge pin 15, and'apulley 16 for the rope 9 is journaled at 17 in theyoke.

When in use thep-ulley and itsiyoke are,

extended in horizontal position and retained in that position by means of the tightened clothes line, but when not in use, the yoke and pulley, with the line supported in the pulley, are swung by gravity tothe vertical dotted line position ofFiggQ. These "carriages are of course movableand may be rolled with the suspended elothesline into compact arrangement at one end of the room these guidepulleys for the purpose of pro-- vidin'g a number, (asthree) "of flightsof suitable length which afford suspending means for a gravity'actuatedj line tightener or stretcher operative when the line is extended to holdthe 'zig' zag flights of the line under tension for supporting the "clothes thereon.

The line tightener is indicated as a whole ure 4 it includes a vertically disposed frame 21 in which three superposed guide pulleys 22, 23, and 24L are journaled within the brackets 25 of the frame.

At the lowerend of the frame 21 a bottom .hook 26 is'fashioned, and the eye 27 of a weight28 is'suspended in the hook. The

weight, which may conveniently be of 'molded concrete or similarmaterial is of sufficient capacity not only to pull down the three flights of the rope, but also to counterbalance the Weight of the clothes which are to be hung upon the zig-zag line.

When'thezig zag flights of the line are pushed to one end of the tracks the weight 2 8 descends "pulling the several flig'hts or sections of'the rope 0r linetaut across the 'upp'erportion of the room, and the lowered.

weightltakes up thesslack' to compensate for the minimum length of the zig zag flights.

"When the zig zag flights are extended for use the weight is lifted, and the added weight of" the clothes on the line counterbalances the weight thus maintaining the flights of the line or rope under tension for the support of the hangingclothes.

"The "clothes line, appl'i ancemay' be manipulatedwith facility and convenience and the dispositionof the flights 'in combined arrangement with the weight fprevents tangling of the rope and insuresready'acce'ss' at all times for use of the appliance.

Having fully described my invention, 'w-hatl claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is- 1. The combination witha'pair'of spaced tracks and carriages supportedthereon, of

a line arranged in zig 'zagfli'ghts between said carnagesandhavm'g its ends anchored,

, said line having. a tension flight,- and a counte'rbalancin'gfweight on said tension flight.

2. Theieombinauonwith afpair of s aced 'traksi'and arriag'e sup orted thereon, (if a line having anchored ends" and arranged in Zigzag fashion ber-ween said carriages, said g "llnehavlng afpluralfiy of tension flights, by the numeral 20, and asbest seen inFIgpulleys on said tensionflights and a journal bearing frame for the pulleys, and a coun- -terbalancing weight suspended from said frame.

3. The combination of tracks, carriages and hingedyokes with pulleys therein, a line having anchored ends and formed with zig said line, a frame having pulleys supported pn said tension flights, and a weighton the mine.

In testimony whereof I afiix my'signature.

"WALTER J. CULIMINGS. 

